World Tour Wildcards 2024

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Ironic indeed, that Q36.5 with a Swiss license gets the wildcard for the Dauphine, but likely doesn't ride the Tour de Suisse then!

no idea if that's the plan, but they would be able to do both, I think, especially with no other big goals around that time of the year.

With Badilatti, Donovan, de la Cruz, Brambilla, Calzoni and Howson they have a number of capable climbers they could spread among the races, Moschetti/Nizzolo for the sprints, and add a couple of rouleurs.

 

[staubsauger]

no idea if that's the plan, but they would be able to do both, I think, especially with no other big goals around that time of the year.

With Badilatti, Donovan, de la Cruz, Brambilla, Calzoni and Howson they have a number of capable climbers they could spread among the races, Moschetti/Nizzolo for the sprints, and add a couple of rouleurs.

Yes, Q36.5 actually has got a quite decent team nowadays. Surprisingly Bardiani still gets the benefit of the doubt due to their reputation as a farm team.

Corratec sold themselves dear last year given they're an better amateur team. Hats off for that. But they were unlikely to repeat that performance. No wildcard for them is logical.

Tudor has build up a very strong team especially for the Giro d'Italia. Dainese & Storer are both quality riders in a Giro field.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yes, Q36.5 actually has got a quite decent team nowadays. Surprisingly Bardiani still gets the benefit of the doubt due to their reputation as a farm team.

Corratec sold themselves dear last year given they're an better amateur team. Hats off for that. But they were unlikely to repeat that performance. No wildcard for them is logical.

Tudor has build up a very strong team especially for the Giro d'Italia. Dainese & Storer are both quality riders in a Giro field.

Corratec had Padun, Pozzovivo and Bonifazio with a sprint train to offer. Clearly more than Bardiani, but apparently Reverberi owns some risky fotos of Mauro Vegni...

 

[Netserk]

Wish they could leave Israel home for a couple of these races to allow a bit more variety, but no, the UCI had to run scared of Sylvain Adams' lawyers. System of "guaranteed wildcard" is pathetic and an oxymoron.

Israel are actually a better and more interesting team than many of the alternatives, but it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy because the fact they have that guaranteed invite that makes them a WorldTour team by proxy means it's easier for them to attract talents than anybody else at the ProTeam level, and the way Adams conducts his business means I'd rather see them miss out every so often to knock them down a peg or two and remind him that they're a ProTeam because they failed to be a WorldTour team on merit.

Leave Super Gee home?! I won't have it.

 

[RedheadDane]

Wish they could leave Israel home for a couple of these races to allow a bit more variety, but no, the UCI had to run scared of Sylvain Adams' lawyers. System of "guaranteed wildcard" is pathetic and an oxymoron.

You might dislike the automatic invitations, but I'm pretty sure Sylvain Adams had nothing to do with the two best ProTeams getting automatic inviations to all WT races.

 

[SafeBet]

Corratec had Padun, Pozzovivo and Bonifazio with a sprint train to offer. Clearly more than Bardiani, but apparently Reverberi owns some risky fotos of Mauro Vegni...

I don't know whether he'll be selected, but to me Pellizzari alone is more interesting than all of the Corratec riders combined, unless Padun goes back to the 2021 Dauphine version of himself.
Pozzovivo had yet to sign and Bonifazio is not necessarily better than, say, Pippo Fiorelli.

 

[sam6]

Wish they could leave Israel home for a couple of these races to allow a bit more variety, but no, the UCI had to run scared of Sylvain Adams' lawyers. System of "guaranteed wildcard" is pathetic and an oxymoron.

Israel are actually a better and more interesting team than many of the alternatives, but it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy because the fact they have that guaranteed invite that makes them a WorldTour team by proxy means it's easier for them to attract talents than anybody else at the ProTeam level, and the way Adams conducts his business means I'd rather see them miss out every so often to knock them down a peg or two and remind him that they're a ProTeam because they failed to be a WorldTour team on merit.

Tbf Israel are much stronger now. Derek Gee is a legend and they just won TDU. But why do they need the same 18 teams in all races anyway? Why can't organizers just invite who they want depending on things like what riders they would send? Why do Arkea need to go to every event?

 

[pastronef]

Wish they could leave Israel home for a couple of these races to allow a bit more variety, but no, the UCI had to run scared of Sylvain Adams' lawyers. System of "guaranteed wildcard" is pathetic and an oxymoron.

Israel are actually a better and more interesting team than many of the alternatives, but it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy because the fact they have that guaranteed invite that makes them a WorldTour team by proxy means it's easier for them to attract talents than anybody else at the ProTeam level, and the way Adams conducts his business means I'd rather see them miss out every so often to knock them down a peg or two and remind him that they're a ProTeam because they failed to be a WorldTour team on merit.

tbf for 2024 Israel has got enough UCI points to get the wild cards. no need for whiny Adams like they did in 2023

 

[Samu Cuenca]

tbf for 2024 Israel has got enough UCI points to get the wild cards. no need for whiny Adams like they did in 2023

The whining helped them score a lot of those points though.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Was there ever any chance of Q36.5 getting a Giro wildcard? Obviously they would be able to put out a much stronger team than Bardiani or Kometa but that seems to be not even a secondary concern. More of an argument is that the number of Italian riders they have would surely give them a shout - whether names like Nizzolo and Brambilla or a star prospect like Calzoni.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I don't know whether he'll be selected, but to me Pellizzari alone is more interesting than all of the Corratec riders combined, unless Padun goes back to the 2021 Dauphine version of himself.
Pozzovivo had yet to sign and Bonifazio is not necessarily better than, say, Pippo Fiorelli.

Ok, I kinda forgot about Pippo "Wout at home" Fiorelli, fair point.

Frankly someone just should have bought Pellizzari out of his contract, cause Bardiani probably won't fix his poor descending and bike handling skills.

 

[pastronef]

4 French WT teams at the Giro is too much I'd say

 

[RedheadDane]

4 French WT teams at the Giro is too much I'd say

That's a really weird mentality!
All WT teams have to ride all the (pre-2017) WT races, and there just happens to be 4 French WT teams... so of course they all have to ride the Giro.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

4 French WT teams at the Giro is too much I'd say

2 Italian PCT teams at the Giro is too much I'd say.

And I'm not even kidding. Q36 would be a clear upgrade on whichever of the Italian teams would have to be bumped. As for the French WT teams, Groupama are way too good not to be in, and the three others all have better Italians than any of the guys who would lead Polti, VF or Corratec (Vendrame, Albanese, Mozzato, Oldani) and all except maybe Cofidis have a better B-lineup than anything the Italian teams can muster at this point anyway. Heck, AG2R have both O'Connor and the Paret-Peintres penciled in, those will combine for more impact than VF and Polti will manage between them.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You might dislike the automatic invitations, but I'm pretty sure Sylvain Adams had nothing to do with the two best ProTeams getting automatic inviations to all WT races.

The public whining and threatening to sue the UCI when they got relegated probably helped them make that decision, though.

tbf for 2024 Israel has got enough UCI points to get the wild cards. no need for whiny Adams like they did in 2023

But as Samu points out, the fact they got those automatic invites because of Adams stamping his feet like a toddler when he got relegated because he bought expensive but ineffective toys rather dampens that. Yes, they have got plenty of points now, because they are a WT team in all but name so they can provide a more attractive proposition to a rider than any other team at that level, but they might not have been in such a position based on their 2022 results and 2023 roster had it not been for the public fallout of a rich man discovering that to succeed in a meritocracy, you need to actually have merit.

4 French WT teams at the Giro is too much I'd say

Well, that's a separate issue of the points and the calendar that we are likely to find more common ground on. With a lot of points available for some rather middling Coupe de France races and short stage races at the .1 and .PT level in northern France (especially the one-dayers as they pay a LOT of points for distance covered compared to stage races), the deck was stacked rather in the favour of the French teams, and with a Frenchman at the head of the UCI it's very easy to consider that not to have been accidental.

 

[tobydawq]

The public whining and threatening to sue the UCI when they got relegated probably helped them make that decision, though.

But as Samu points out, the fact they got those automatic invites because of Adams stamping his feet like a toddler when he got relegated because he bought expensive but ineffective toys rather dampens that. Yes, they have got plenty of points now, because they are a WT team in all but name so they can provide a more attractive proposition to a rider than any other team at that level, but they might not have been in such a position based on their 2022 results and 2023 roster had it not been for the public fallout of a rich man discovering that to succeed in a meritocracy, you need to actually have merit.

Well, that's a separate issue of the points and the calendar that we are likely to find more common ground on. With a lot of points available for some rather middling Coupe de France races and short stage races at the .1 and .PT level in northern France (especially the one-dayers as they pay a LOT of points for distance covered compared to stage races), the deck was stacked rather in the favour of the French teams, and with a Frenchman at the head of the UCI it's very easy to consider that not to have been accidental.

It has been like that since 2021...

 

[pastronef]

It has been like that since 2021...

they were WT from 2020 to 2022

 

[RedheadDane]

they were WT from 2020 to 2022

Yes, but other ProTeams still got the automatic invitations.

 

[tobydawq]

they were WT from 2020 to 2022

Yes, but back then, Alpecin were the ones benefitting from the rule. Israel did get some weird special treatment last year where they were automatically qualified for most races apart from Grand Tours for weird reasons but the position they are in now is not an invention purely for them.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Corratec had Padun, Pozzovivo and Bonifazio with a sprint train to offer. Clearly more than Bardiani, but apparently Reverberi owns some risky fotos of Mauro Vegni...

I‘m a fan of this Corratec PCT, because I like their jerseys, and their comparably weak rider squad.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/karel-vacek

… was second at a Giro mountain stage last year - and apparently hasn’t got any contract for 2024??

Vacek was one of their best men.

Barac, here, was perhaps one of their weaker men, but he has a handsome face, and so imho should continue his career:

Antonio Barać

Antonio Barać (born 1997-01-19 in Livno) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Croatia, active between 2014 and 2023. His best results are 2nd place in NC Croatia ME - Road Race and 2nd place in National Championships Croatia - ITT.

www.procyclingstats.com

Barac‘s 2023 however was… well… just have a look at it, yourself… *grin*

 

[yaco]

Israel will again not get an invite again to the Vuelta and of course they never get a look in to the Middle East races - At least they accept their invitations to WT races.

 

[tobydawq]

Israel will again not get an invite again to the Vuelta and of course they never get a look in to the Middle East races - At least they accept their invitations to WT races.

Well, that's not true given that they're automatically invited to all WT races as one of the two best ProTeams from 2023.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Though I understand the reasons, I actually dislike that wildcard invitations for the Grand Tours is quite „boring“.

I would for example like to see Bardiani at the Tour or Vuelta, at least once, or Corratec at the Tour, or TDT or Novo Nordisk at the Tour. I hope that comes real, one day.

And I‘d like to see Euskaltel at Paris-Roubaix, every year…

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And I‘d like to see Euskaltel at Paris-Roubaix, every year…

I'm not sure you'd see much of them though.

 

[tobydawq]

Though I understand the reasons, I actually dislike that wildcard invitations for the Grand Tours is quite „boring“.

I would for example like to see Bardiani at the Tour or Vuelta, at least once, or Corratec at the Tour, or TDT or Novo Nordisk at the Tour. I hope that comes real, one day.

And I‘d like to see Euskaltel at Paris-Roubaix, every year…

Why do you so often say crap like this? Of course you wouldn't enjoy seeing Novo Nordisk at the Tour.